Both Latifi and curr🌼ent teammate George Russell's deaꦅls expire at the end of the year and Williams is yet to announce its line-up for next season. Russell has been increasingly linked with a graduation to a Mercedes works seat for 2022, while Latifi’s chances of staying put at Williams look strong.

Williams boss Jost Capito said there was “no reason not to have him [Latifi] in next year” before the Canadian went on to claim his best F1 result to date with a brilliant drive to seventh place 🍬𝔉in Hungary.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Capito ♛reaffirmed his stance that Latifi deserves to keep his seat at Grove for a third campaign.

“I wouldn’t say I was impressed, because I know his capabilities,” Cap𒁃ito replied when asked how impressed he was by Latifi’s Hungarian GP drive. “He did a fantastic race and he has done fantastic races in the past.

“It is impressive, but I was not impressed because I know what I can expect of him and he is rarely doing any mistakeജs and is completely very capable of doing what his race engineer tells him what to do, what lap times he should do, what to achieve and he is a very good race driver and deserves a seat in our team, definitely.”

On Thursday, Latifi claimed he feels “100%” ready to lead Williams in 2022 should Russell get the call 🎉to join Mercedes.

Capito agreed that his driver is shoꦇwing alꦰl the hallmarks of becoming a team leader but indicated that there is still room for improvement if Latifi wants to become a fully fledged team leader.

“I think maybe not now yet, but he is really improving race-by-race and I’m sur💞e by the end of the season he is ready tꦛo do that,” Capito said.

“Especially his personali🏅ty is in the right spot to lead the team. He works very well with the engin🎉eers, he is very motivational, he is very clear in his direction, where he wants the car to develop and he’s very much liked by the team. He’s very demanding.

“I think he also learned a lot with George, they work together and spend a lot of time togeth🎶er on and off the track, so it’s a fantastic relationship and I’m sure by the end of the season he will b🥀e in that position that he can lead the team.”

Asked if his comments point towards a 2022 contract extension for Latifi, Capito 🐻repl🐼ied: “It looks like, I would say.”

Capito once again stressed that his side is in no rush to firm up its driver plans, joking Willi✤ams only needs to know whether Russell will be departingꦅ or not “before the first test next year”.

“In the moment we are not worried about 🥀our situation and I think Toto will take the decision sooner or later, I believe it will be soon🍷er,” he added.

"The Williams seat seems to be a very attractive seat for every driver who hasn’t got a fixed seat for ne💫xt year and as most of the seats are fixed for next year, I think we can lean back and wait for the decision, and when the decision is taken then we can get into more detailed discussions with various drivers.”

Ex-F1 drivers Nico Hulkenberg, Dan🌸iil Kvyat, Alex Albon 🍰and Formula E champion Nyck de Vries have all been linked as potential candidates for a Williams drive. 

Regarding a possible replacement for Russell,🌟 Capito said Williams will consider both experienced and rookie drivers.

“I think there are differentꦅ options and different strategies,” Capito explained. “It could be an advantage to have an experienced driver and it could be an advantage to have a rookie, and you will not know what would have been better or not as good.

“We are looking into the vario🎉us options; at drivers who have a lot of experience and drivers who have some experience, and drivers who have no experience.

“It’s not just the experience, it’s also the personality and the spirit to join Williams. Where Williams is now, we are improving and we have ambitious objectives for the years to co🐓me.

“The most important is that we have a driver with the spirit to support Williams onꦐ the way Williams wants to go. That’s more important than experience or non experience.”